Peridot vs Beach City
by Hikaru the Jinx
Summary: Peridot is left alone while the other gems go on an important mission. One thing leads to another, and she ends up in quite the predicament.
1. Chapter 1

It was a normal day in Beach City. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the waves were tossing around violently...  
Wait, what?  
Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were gathered on the beach watching the waves with growing concern. They had only returned to the temple a day ago after finally destroying the cluster, and now they feared that another threat was on the rise.  
Inside the temple Steven was busily working in the kitchen, oblivious to the possible danger. He vigorously stirred a bowl of cookie batter while stealing a glance at Peridot, a few feet away.  
The green gem had her face pressed against the window and was making sounds of annoyance. "What are they doing out there? What's so important about the ocean?!"  
Steven pulled out a cookie sheet. "I dunno, but Garnet seemed pretty worried this morning." He looked thoughtful as he carefully plopped the dough onto his tray. A look of clarity passed over his face quite suddenly. "Oh! I know! I bet it's Mal-"  
Steven was cut off by Amethyst roughly slamming the door open. "Amethyst!" Pearl scolded, earning a chuckle from the purple gem who otherwise ignored her.  
"STEVEN!" Amethyst ran over to the short boy. "We're going on a mission to stop Malachite!" Pearl shot her a glare, thinking the news could have been delivered a bit more gently.  
"That's right. And we need to hurry. It seems that she's reached an extremely dangerous level of instability." Garnet sounded calm considering the nature of her statement.  
"We'll need all of us for this. Even though i'd rather Steven stay here were it's safe." Pearl cast a worried glance in Steven's direction.  
"What's going on?" Peridot had left her spot by the window and now stood with the other gems. Her hands were on her hips and she looked at each of them with suspicion.  
"We're going to fight this huuuuge sea monster named MALACHITE!" Amethyst lunged towards Peri in an attempt to scare her. It seemed to work if the squeak the green gem emitted was any indication.  
"Oh, Peridot." Garnet looked down at her as if only now noticing her presence. "It would be best if you stayed here. You still don't know how to summon your weapon and without it this could be far to dangerous."  
"WhAT?! You want me to just sit here and do nothing while you're out on an important mission?!" Peri flailed her arms in protest.  
"Yeah. Pretty much." Garnet crossed her arms.  
"AUGHRHAH! Why?! Didn't you say that i'm a Crystal Clo- Gem now too?"  
Garnet knelt down to her level. "Of course. You're one of us now. We want you be safe. That's why it's best if you stay here until you can better defend yourself." She spoke gently with one hand resting on the smaller gem's shoulder.  
"Besides!" Steven chimed in. "Someone has to keep an eye on my cookies." He slid the tray into the oven as he spoke.  
"...Cookies?" Peridot said the word like it was foreign, which to her it was, and scrunched up her nose.  
"Yeah! All you have to do is wait for this timer to go off and take the cookies out. Just don't forget to use the oven mitts so you don't burn yourself. Oh! And remember to turn off the oven afterwards."  
The next thing Peridot knew, Steven and the others were standing on the warp pad and she had an oversized pair of oven mitts on.  
"BYYEE!" Amethyst waved.  
"Good luck." Garnet smiled.  
"Don't eat all the cookies!" Steven teased, also waving.  
"Try not to burn down the temlpe." Pearl gave her a worried look.  
The next minute they were gone. Peridot was alone. Wearing oven mitts.  
"...What now?"


	2. Chapter 2

Peridot sat in front of the oven, her eyes fixed on the small timer beside it. It ticked ever so slowly.  
She refused to look away. Refused to move. Refused to blink.  
"AUGHRHA!" that is, for the first full minute. "This is taking forever! Why do earth ones go through this tourture!?"  
That said, Peridot moved away from the oven and began to wander around the house searching for somthing to keep her busy.  
She looked through several board games, deeming them "stupid" and moved on to Steven's room. There was a tv there but she was uncertain how to operate it.  
Finally, she stopped her wandering and sat down in the living room. Her face was twisted into a pout and she grumbled somthing under her breath.  
And then Peridot looked up.  
Right across from were she sat was the door leading into the inner portion of the temple. Peridot had only been inside once, and the experience had been frightening. Now she found herself standing up and walking over to the door.  
Observing it properly, she could see that each of the original Crystal Gems was represented by a gemstone on the door's surface. She ran a hand over them, thinking. The five stones were arranged into a star.  
Stars again. This seemed to be a prevalent theme.  
"Oh yeah. I still don't have one." Peridot looked down at her uniform and frowned. She had thought about shape shifting a star onto her uniform but quickly realized how hard it would be to maintain.  
She was suddenly jolted from her thoughts by a loud, obnoxious ringing. The timer.  
This was it. Time to carry out her mission.  
Peridot slipped on the oven mitts she had removed several moments ago and quickly scurried to the oven.  
First she would silence the timer's screams. Uncertain of how to do that, she hit it. The force of her blow sent the small device to her feet.  
The screams ceased and Peri was satisfied.  
Next she opened the oven door. A wave of heat hit her immediately in the face.  
"ugh." She frowned.  
Carefully, Peridot gripped both sides of the cookie sheet and began to pull it out. She was slow, gentle, graceful.  
Succeeding in removal, she slammed the tray down on top of the stove with a triumphant "HA!".  
The task was complete. Peridot was victorious. Or was she?  
"Why do i feel like there was somthing else?" She stood in a contemplative stance.  
Try as she might, she couldn't recall what had been forgotten.  
"Nyeh...probably wasn't important anyway."


	3. Chapter 3

Peridot shoved several blackened rags into the storage space beneath the steps. Hopefully no one would discover them there and learn of her mistake.  
It wasn't long after Peridot had removed the cookies from the oven that she had realized what the forgotten step was. She had been busily occupying herself with taking apart Steven's alarm clock when she became aware of a strange odor. She chose to ignore it.  
She couldn't ignore what came next however. A loud, terrible sound screeching all through the temple.  
Peridot lept to her feet in a panic and looked around frantically. She quickly determined the source of the noise to be an odd device mounted on the ceiling.  
Her attention was not held by this for long. Instead it was captured by the scene before her in the kitchen.  
"Oh my STARS! The cooKIES are BURNING!" She ran towards them not sure at first what she should do. Calming herself as best she could, Peri grabbed several hand towels that were lying around and used them to smother the fire.  
Now, having put out the flames and hidden the evidence of her mistake, she turned to survey the cookies. They were a bit darker than before, but she was sure they were fine.  
Peridot stood glaring at the charred treats, but not really looking at them. Her mind was attempting to determine what her next course of action should be. She had exhausted all means of occupying herself within the temple and the one task given to her by the others had been accomplished. Mostly anyway.  
What was she supposed to do now? Only the gems would know what tasks needed to be done in this small, dirt town.  
But the Crystal Gems weren't around. In fact, she had no real idea were they had gone.  
That answered her question. Her next task would be to determine the location of the other Crystal Gems.  
And to do that, she would have to leave the temple.


	4. Chapter 4

Peridot moved across the sand at a brisk pace. Her face held a determined look and her fists were clenched. She soon reached the edge of the beach and, filled with determination, entered the city.  
The front door of the Big Donut flung open. The bell jangled wildly creating quite the commotion. Sadie, who stood behind the counter, jolted to attention and looked to the door with wide eyes.  
On the threshold stood a short, green girl with triangle shaped hair. Her eyes were wide and full of intensity. The girl surveyed the shop from the doorway before entering and then moved swiftly up to the counter.  
"You there!" she shoved a touch stump in Sadie's face. "What is your designation?" Her eyes bored into the blond's unwaveringly. Sadie blinked, trying to process the question. "My...designation? You mean my name?" she took a step back, a bit uncomfortable with how close Peridot's finger was to her face. "...Yes. Yes, your name and...um...position." Peri slowly lowered her pointing hand and crossed both her arms over her chest. " Oh. My name is Sadie." she gave her a friendly smile. "And as for my position...cashier, i guess..?" she shrugged slightly. "I...see." Peridot rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Are 'cashiers' humans of a high status? Are you knowledgeable when it comes to the goings on in beach city? Tell me!" She pulled herself up slightly on the counter's edge. "Uh..well..." Sadie stuggled to understand the sudden barrage of questions. "I suppose...I do know a lot about what goes on around here." she rubbed the back of her neck akwardly. "Perfect!" Peridot slammed her hands against the counter, though with her diminished stature it was more like weak slapping. "Then tell me, earth o- er, Sadie. Were have the Crystal Gems gone?"


End file.
